Ariana DeBose spoke about her viral performance at the British Academy Film Awards during a new interview with Zoe Ball on her BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show. When Ball admitted that she liked the performance, DeBose joked, “You know what, you might be one of the few.” For her time on stage, DeBose rapped praises for the female acting nominees. “Angela Bassett did the thing, Viola Davis my ‘Woman King,’ Blanchett Cate you’re a genius, Jamie Lee you are all of us,” she sang at one point.
Ball explained that she liked the performance because it was “woman singing and dancing, being magnificent celebrating women.” DeBose responded by adding that’s what she “wanted to do.” “Honestly, it’s not like I’m like, ‘Hey BAFTA, let me in!’ They actually called me, believe it or not,” DeBose said. “But that was the assignment. Like, ‘Come celebrate women,’ and I was like, ‘Absolutely!’ We did that and it was fun. Not gonna lie, I had a blast.”
Ariana DeBose On “BBC Radio 2”
@bbc “A woman celebrating women”
Ariana DeBose talks for the first time about that iconic BAFTAs performance! #BBCRadio2 #BBCSounds #iPlayer
“[It was] so awesome, and then I spent the rest of the night, you know, cutting a rug. Which, is that something you say here? Cutting a rug with Emma Thompson,” she continued, referring to dancing with the actress. “It was fabulous. I had a great time.” While the response to DeBose’s performance was negative online, she claimed that people in attendance were fans. In particular, she recalled Elvis director Baz Luhrmann enjoying it. “He was like, ‘No, I think you’re great, that was fun. I had fun.’ And I was like, ‘work,’ ” she said. “That’s a win, you guys. And apparently, gay Twitter seemed to like it? So that’s good, I’ll take it. I told you, my people.”
After the initial criticism on Twitter, DeBose deleted her account on the platform. While she has yet to return to the site, she shared an optimistic message on Instagram, earlier this week. She posted the quote, “Babygirl [sic], in a world full of choices, choose yourself.” Prior to the BBC Radio 2 interview, it was the only public statement DeBose had made since the awards ceremony.
[Via]